Kuro traveled at lightning speed through the forest floor. He had left as soon as his family said goodbye to him at the riverbank before mounting a freshwater creature each. He wasn't worried the slightest. After all, his brother was there. He knew that gentle pacifist brother of his could freeze everyone in the vicinity in an instant if Mommy's life is in jeopardy. Since Mommy had the Lifeguard Scale from the obnoxious old fogie, Mommy would be safe from harm.
The one that moved his heart the most was of course, Mommy's embrace. He could feel that Mommy hugged him tighter than usual. She kept on whispering to him to take good care of himself, as if he was a child on his first ever journey to the outside world. If only she knew how 'bad' he was before he entered her life, she wouldn't even bat an eyelid at his departure. Nonetheless, he truly enjoyed being pampered by Mommy as he knew she was genuinely concerned about him.
At first, he thought of visiting the Primordial Queen Mother's nest first to convey his intentions of their future plans. However, he ultimately changed his mind. He felt that gifting Mommy with a new cute pet once she returns takes precedence. He could still discuss things through with Q-chan and her mate before he went to hunt the elusive heavenly treasure for Mommy's sake. After all, he still needed to gather clues from them.
It was naturally the right time to hunt for the Forest Spirit. Since Mommy was not around to hold him in check, he could be as tyrannical as possible. Kuro grinned evilly. He felt that he had sense the bugger's presence not too long ago. He would have to retrace his steps back to see where did that little scaredy-cat guy was hiding. Nine out of ten that guy would've gone into hiding after it felt his aura from before. He had heard that Forest Spirits are the darling of nature and could perform a rudimentary level augury-like abilities to sense impending disaster by reading the signs from the world. In some sense, Kuro knew he was the 'disaster'. However, he will never give up since he had promised Mommy.
The black-colored lightning serpent disappeared in the blink of an eye amongst the rotten leaves and gnarled roots within the dimly lit forest. His movement showed that he knew where he was going as he traveled in a straight line towards the territory of the pitiful Forest Spirit.
Ahh.. let's just light a candle to the poor spirit beast...
...
Q-chan happily droned in an incomprehensible tone. The Mistress had praised her for her efforts!
She turned her fair pale white head to face hundreds and thousands of Elemental Fiends within the large newly made underground tunnel. The glow of multicolored elemental fires lit up the cramped space within. If one had witnessed these gathering of multicolored lights from afar, one would misunderstood that there was a festival going on. However, these multicolored lights were a dark omen to the spiritual beasts in this realm, as they knew the devourer of land, the Elemental Fiends, were not far. Once these spiritual insects arrived, they won't have the chance to survive at all.
Through the exclusive nest-wide telepathic connection the Queen Mother had with the sea of Elemental Fiends, she sent over Hana's compliment and regards. A loud high pitch drone filled the cave cavity! Everyone was extremely excited!
They resumed their efforts and doubled up their speed!
It won't be long before they could reach Empress' abode! Everybody was thrilled!
Q-chan estimated that they only need another one to two days to reach their destination.
...
At the Five-fork Crystal river, Mekong observed the sun disappearing at the horizon with a wretched feeling. They have been waiting for the whole day! Colorful expletives nearly spilled from his mouth, but he pushed it into the deepest recess of his heart; he would definitely suffer greatly if he insulted the princess' Mistress openly! In the worst-case scenario, he could be executed, and his life could be forfeited!
Outwardly, Mekong tried hard to maintain a calm expression. The other fifty attendants around him were maintaining a stoic expression too; their eyes were glazed as if they were not present at the moment. Maybe some of them were daydreaming or even sleeping. Fishes didn't have eyelids after all, obviously, even if they fall asleep, no one would know. These attendants came from different Waterlords, to be exact, ten each came from Elder Waterfall, Elder Watervenom, Elder Watersprout, Elder Waterspring, and Elder Waterlake.
Mekong knew that some of them would've been the 'talents' sent over to make contact with the new landbeast Lord who managed to subjugate the notorious Lightning Serpent. He had heard about the new Lord's tendency of being fickle-minded, where she only choose the creature she likes rather than the one with the most talent.
The lucky princess' attendant was one. He was even there when the guy won over the Lord's heart to receive her favor. He was quite frustrated that he was not the one being favored by the Lord. It was self-evident that he was more handsome and more talented than the little guy!
"What were you thinking about, Mekong?" A sweet melodic voice has woken Mekong up from his daydreaming session.
"!!!!" The princess was just beside him, eyeing him with curiosity! Just beside her, Grand Elder Watershade was eyeing him with narrowed eyes and a stern look. The old silver catfish only gave a deep sigh after awhile, refusing to ask anything or comment. It seemed that the Grand Elder's impression of him had fallen a few notches.
"Young Miss! Grand Elder!" It really made him sobered up. The rest of the attendants finally gave a sense of being alert and sharp again after seeing the stern look of the second most powerful creature of their clan.
"Silence. The Breakthrough Specialist's convoy will arrive soon. Impudence will not be tolerated and will be punished, regardless of who your Waterlord is." Grand Elder Watershade spoke casually while addressing the rest of the attendants with a veiled threat. He needed the deal to start amiably and will not appreciate someone meddling with it. Mistress Hana looked mild and easygoing, but only he knew, behind all those warm smile lies a stubborn old croon who loves to argue and haggle for the best deal! She could turn hostile any minute with a slight provocation! So he really needed to control the environment well to be on the winning side.
The attendants bowed low. Some even blushed, while some others showed a defiant look when the Grand Elder was not looking.
As if he did not notice... Grand Elder Watershade harumphed lightly.
Loud laughter in Bubble language could be heard suddenly. From afar, all fifty-one attendants plus the Grand Elder and the Young Miss of the Clan turned their gazes in sync towards the loud noise.
They could see a creature with a black mane sitting on a pink dolphin who was swimming in a backward position! The creature was throwing little fishes towards the freshwater animals accompanying her. They will jump midair to catch the tiny fishes while making a backflip to return into the stream.
Everyone was so speechless, they couldn't say anything at all. The landbeast Lord was treating their servants like show animals! The thing was, all of them enjoyed it!
Ara flashed past the rest and greeted the Mistress happily, "Mistress Hana! I miss you!" She swam over as fast as possible!
Hana heard Ara's telepathic-voice and immediately instructed Saras to turn forward to meet up with Ara only to face so many different freshwater creatures ahead!
The laughter immediately ceased, and the servants kept quiet and adopted a serious expression. Although some of them were trying hard not to laugh.
Ara was so fast, she appeared in front of Hana in no time and nearly collided with the pink dolphin! However, she immediately jumped out of the water and made a beautiful 10 point flip midair, and landed on Hana's hand. Once she safely fell on Hana's outstretched palms, she conjured the Water-Barrier Arts to be able to breathe on land.
"What are you doing, Ara?! That is dangerous! What if I didn't stretch out my hand and catch you?!" Hana berated lightly while she sighed. Last time, little Ara was about two kilos. After a month, her weight doubled! Thank goodness it was still within her ability to carry her. This chubby girl!
"Mistress can just let me wallow in sadness... Wuwuwu..." Ara started to act in a spoiled manner in front of the Mistress. She can't help it, her benevolent Mistress was one of the few who will always treat her extremely well besides the Grand Elder. Only her great-grandpa treated her harshly all the time!
Everyone who heard her rolled their eyes upwards. Such a drama queen!
"There, there, no need to be sad. I'm so strong now, even if your weight doubled again, I can still withstand it. Do grow big and strong, alright? Once you're big and strong, you could help out around the house. Mistress will be very happy. Of course, with the permission of your grandpa and the Grand Elder." Hana good-naturedly rubbed Ara's lovely pinkish head and gave a slight nod of acknowledgment to Grand Elder Watershade.
Grand Elder Watershade gave a nod back. However, he had his gaze on the ten Elemental Fiends behind Hana and Shiro as he narrowed his gaze slightly. Bringing nine General-classed Elemental Fiends and a single worker-classed Elemental Fiend was a silent declaration that the aunty had gotten ahold of a new group of spiritual beasts. If she only brought just a few mixture of random classed fiends, it would mean that they just caught a few at random by destroying their nest, which was within the Lightning Serpent's ability. But, the astute Grand Elder could detect that these purple-colored Elemental Fiends were of the top-tiered ones, as if they were the elusive Primordial Queen Mother's personal guards!
What did this indicate?
The Grand Elder had come to a disturbing conclusion; Mistress Hana had just enslaved a whole nest of Elemental Fiends, including its owner, the Primordial Queen Mother!
His bargaining chip had reduced significantly!
The pink dolphin, Saras, was quite nervous as she swam closer to the Grand Elder, a lofty figure of the clan where she would never have the chance to approach, after she received Shiro's instruction. Hana rubbed her head gently to calm her down with one hand while hugging Ara under her armpit with the other hand.
"Evening, Grand Elder. Everything's well, I presumed?" Hana started engaging in small talks with the Grand Elder as she smiled politely.
"Evening, Mistress Hana. All is well. We have been waiting for quite a while. But no matter, it has always been a privilege to wait for a grand person such as you. Our family's Princess Aranyella had been missing her dear Mistress' guidance daily." As usual, the Grand Elder's poised and elegant manner was reflected in his gentlemanly speech. Until today, Hana was still quite intrigued by the Grand Elder's eloquence. If he had a British accent, it would be even more perfect!
"What of Lord Tittua?" Hana very calmly brought up the real master of the clan. She needed to know whether her visit had been acknowledged by the Lord of the Crystal-veined stream.
"Currently, he is still in closed-door cultivation, attempting to break the Imperial-lord barrier. He won't be available for quite some time, I'm afraid. Apologies for our insolence." It was only fitting for the master of a territory to personally greet another master of another territory that it was in friendly terms with. Letting the subordinates become the representatives could mean that the other party was viewed to be at a lower standing, which was quite rude. That was why the confrontations between Suria and Shiro, and the previous confrontation between Lord Tittua and Shiro, invoked the other party's anger.
However, in the Waterwave Marine Clan, the Grand Elder's position was unique. His power was nearly at par with the Lord, and he could become the Lord's representative and even issued orders to be followed. The Lord was like a figurehead of the clan while he was the one who actually manages the clan and make sure it runs smoothly.
"I see." She gave the Grand Elder a meaningful look. "Is he aware of our previous, emm, deal? Will it be alright?"
"Mistress Hana doesn't have to worry. We always had a tacit agreement in everything that could make the clan prosper."
Hana nodded with understanding. It's just meant that the Grand Elder's power was on par with the Lord of the Crystal-veined stream.
"May I know why these fellows are waiting here for? I thought you already sent over attendants to receive us?"
"Ahh, those were personal arrangements by our eager little Chomper. These young ones are the ones that had been meticulously chosen to assist Mistress Hana with your needs during your visit in our humble abode. You could choose any of them, or take all of them in." The Grand Elder proposed languidly. He was tactfully informing Hana to abandon the low-leveled servants in favor of these new ones to serve her. Although Grand Elder Watershade didn't place his own people within, he didn't mind letting the other Elders' people trying. Regardless of who the Mistress chose, it will benefit the clan greatly.
"No thanks. I'm good. These cuties are enough."
Before the 'attendants' could do anything to impress Hana, she had flatly refused. She did not even try to observe them.
The awkward silence between them was followed by a short nod by the Grand Elder, "Alright. As you see fit."
...